Mom's Keys
by Lamia of the Dark
Summary: Who would throw a perfectly good Pokemon away? Team Rocket find an abandoned Klefki in a trash can and the traumatized Pokemon becomes attached to Jessie. (First chapter produced for Caesar's Palace Shipping Week, Summer 2018, Day 7, no prompt.)
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo.**

~ Mom's Keys ~

As Team Rocket were sneaking through an alley, a trash can rattled beside them, startling James and Meowth.

"What was that?" Meowth cried out, while James merely let out an inarticulate shriek.

"Oh please, you two," Jessie scoffed. "It was just something hitting the side of that trash can! Probably a Rattata."

She kicked the trash can, as if to prove her point. It fell over, the lid rolling away and the garbage from inside spilling out into the alley.

Along with empty packages and rancid-smelling remains of what had formerly been food, something else rolled out...

"Is that... a Pokemon?" Jessie asked uncertainly, kneeling down to get a closer look.

"Kiiii," the tiny creature chirped, and let off a weak flash of light.

It was silver and had a keylike horn on the top of its head. With its two thin little arms, it clutched a battered metal charm. Jessie reached out to the little Pokemon, trying to get a better look at what it was holding. She was able to see that the charm was engraved with the words Mom's Keys, before the Pokemon shrieked "Kiiiiiiiii," and hit her with a strong blast of light.

"Meowth, what's it saying?" James asked.

"It's not saying anything," Meowth replied. "It's just yelling. Like when you went 'aaaaaaaaaahhhh' earlier."

"Ouch... that felt like a Flash Cannon," Jessie complained. She was so used to being struck with Pokemon moves that she could tell them apart on impact.

"So it's a Steel Type?" James said.

"Probably. Not many other types can learn Steel Type moves."

"Anyway, it looks like it's hurt. We should take it to the Pokemon Center."

"If it will _let_ us..."

They were blasted a few more times before the little creature realized that they weren't trying to take its treasure away, and finally allowed Jessie to scoop it up into her hands.

When they brought it to the Pokemon Center, Nurse Joy said, "Oh, a Klefki!"

As she set it in the machine to be healed, she lectured them about letting their Pokemon get into such a horrible condition.

"We found it in the trash," Meowth piped up defensively.

"Kiii," agreed the Klefki.

~to be continued~


	2. Chapter 2

~ Mom's Keys ~

While Nurse Joy was surprised to hear Meowth speak in human language, outwardly she showed no sign of it, keeping her composure as she handed the healed Klefki back to Jessie.

"Kiii," Klefki chirped happily as it floated next to Jessie's shoulder.

Since they didn't seem to know anything about the Pokemon they'd rescued from the trash can, Nurse Joy showed them the Pokedex entry for Klefki, and also gave them a sample-sized bag of Pokechow which was specially formulated for the Steel/Fairy type combination. There was a cartoon drawing of a Mawile on the bag, but Nurse Joy assured them that it was good for Klefki too.

"It likes to hold keys, huh..." James said thoughtfully.

"But this one didn't have any keys when we found it," Meowth pointed out.

They both turned to stare at the battered metal keychain that dangled on Klefki's arm. Klefki was happily munching on a Pokechow pellet which Jessie held up to its mouth.

"Whoever threw it in the trash probably took all its keys away," Jessie said.

After finishing the last bite of its Pokechow pellet, Klefki said, "Klefki. Klefki ki. Kiiiii. Klefki."

Meowth translated: "Klefki says that it crawled in the trashcan itself to get its keychain back, but it couldn't get back out of the can."

"Kiiii. Klefki ki. Klef. Klefki."

"All the keys were taken away by its previous trainer's kids after..." Meowth trailed off with a sad look, hesitating to finish the sentence.

"After what?" James asked.

"She died."

Team Rocket was silent for a long uncomfortable moment. The silence was broken by a loud crunching sound, as Klefki floated down to the table where the Pokechow bag was sitting and started eating again. Apparently it was done with the conversation for now.

Jessie and James both started digging through their pockets, but after unloading a lot of useless junk on the table, one thing was clear.

"I don't have any keys."

"Neither do I."

They sifted through the stuff on the table, looking for anything metallic and shiny that they could give Klefki to hold, but all they came up with was a single paperclip.

Klefki did not want the paperclip.

~to be continued~


End file.
